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Pot Legalization Could Save U.S. $13.7 Billion Per Year, 300 Economists Say

Unbreakable

Bluelighter
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Oct 22, 2009
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Your plans to celebrate 4/20 this Friday could actually make the government some money, if only such activities were legal. That’s according to a bunch of economists, and some prominent ones too.

More than 300 economists, including three nobel laureates, have signed a petition calling attention to the findings of a paper by Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, which suggests that if the government legalized marijuana it would save $7.7 billion annually by not having to enforce the current prohibition on the drug. The report added that legalization would save an additional $6 billion per year if the government taxed marijuana at rates similar to alcohol and tobacco.

That's as much as $13.7 billion per year, but it's still minimal when compared to the federal deficit, which hit $1.5 trillion last year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

While the economists don't directly call for pot legalization, the petition asks advocates on both sides to engage in an "open and honest debate" about the benefits of pot prohibition.

"At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition," the petition states.

The economic benefits of pushing pot into mainstream commerce have long been cited as a reason to make the drug legal, and the economists' petition comes as government officials at both the federal and local levels are looking for ways to raise funds. The majority of Americans say they prefer cutting programs to increasing taxes as a way to deal with the nation’s budget deficit -- marijuana legalization would seemingly give the government money wtihout doing either.

Officials in one state have already made the economic argument for pot legalization, but to no avail. California Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano proposed legislation in 2009 to legalize marijuana in California, arguing that it would yield billions of dollars in tax revenue for a state in dire need of funds. California voters ultimately knocked down a referendum to legalize marijuana in 2010.



Source: Hell yeah for pot! Fuck you Obummer! Ron Paul 2012 <3
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=116852,b=facebook
 
Great to see this in the media.
But it is missing the point.

Drug legalization, and the end of the drug war is about FREEDOM.
It will save LIVES.

The money argument may be what it takes to convince the conservatives, but anyone with a sense of morality should see plainly that we deserve the freedom to explore our own consciousness, and to play with the gifts that nature (and humans) has created. And also that people don't deserve to spend time in jail over plants or chemicals (except for chemicals for warfare, perhaps).
 
The majority of Americans say they prefer cutting programs to increasing taxes as a way to deal with the nation’s budget deficit -- marijuana legalization would seemingly give the government money wtihout doing either.

It would cut at least one program: the cop welfare program (salaried and pensioned employment for unnecessary work).
 
Great to see this in the media.
But it is missing the point.

Drug legalization, and the end of the drug war is about FREEDOM.
It will save LIVES.

The money argument may be what it takes to convince the conservatives, but anyone with a sense of morality should see plainly that we deserve the freedom to explore our own consciousness, and to play with the gifts that nature (and humans) has created. And also that people don't deserve to spend time in jail over plants or chemicals (except for chemicals for warfare, perhaps).

Don't use reason to promote positive change.

Just bribe people: "Legalize pot, and we will tax it and everyone will get a cut of the tax profit"
 
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